A Gourmet's Passion
by Hiei's Cute Girl
Summary: Because somewhere between food and euphoric satisfaction, Kaneki Ken had become his reason for living. One-shot, Shuu-centric.


**A Gourmet's Passion**

 **Summary:** Because somewhere between food and euphoric satisfaction, Kaneki Ken had become his reason for living.

 **WARNING:** Based on events in the manga, SPOILERS; will include the odd, slightly homosexual ravings of one idiot-Gourmet.

 **The _italics_ are for when Tsukiyama-chi adds his English, French, Spanish, German and Italian decorations. There are also many quotes because Tsukiyama looks like the kind of man who is a bit of a bibliophile. **

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**One-Shot  
** **Raison d'être**

The past few months spent in the company of one Kaneki Ken were the best memories Tsukiyama Shuu could ever ask for. He hunted for his hunger wherever Kaneki-kun went, but his entire being begged to be with him forevermore. As Kaneki-kun's vassal, Shuu followed him everywhere…

"Tsukiyama-san, you don't need to wash my back."

" _Nonsense! Mon Dieu,_ it is my duty to serve you!"

At least, anywhere Kaneki-kun allowed him to. It served as an educational experience, really. Shuu fancied himself an elite predator, an eagle sitting among rodents, observing his unknowing prey. He could see every gesture, inflection of the spoken word, step taken…

Kaneki Ken was as colorful as a fauvistic painting, violent and beautiful all at once. His most striking feature was his patience (and that _hair!_ ). Kaneki-kun never rushed anywhere if he could help it, content to walk slowly to his destination. He seemed to derive simple pleasure from the deliberate, measured activity of putting one foot before the other. He was, of course, never late to his appointments; only extremely punctual. _Monsieur Banjoi_ and his three ducklings ran everywhere ahead of them, but Tsukiyama never left his master. Unlike those brutes, he understood. A powerful, rare beast like Kaneki-kun needn't hurry. His every conquest began with the ground under his soles; his domain cemented with each step. The world was already at his feet. If anything, Kaneki-kun's seemingly eternal patience spoke well of the glittering intelligence and calm beneath those level eyes.

Kaneki-kun's patience even extended to other people, including fools. Shuu would never understand how he could deal with _Monseñor Bunjiji_ and his three stooges on a daily basis… or teach _Little_ Hinami the mysteries of kanji. It was a trait Shuu admired and hated all at once; after all, if Kaneki-kun would get rid of them, they could be all alone. No one but him deserved to be beside Kaneki-kun… no one but he could be Kaneki-kun's sword. Tsukiyama was also aware of how well they complimented each other; it was his job to be impatient with idiots and Kaneki-kun's to stay his hand. If life was about harmony and balance, they were the perfect couple. The Gods must have made their meeting a thing of fate. They were meant to be, always.

Kaneki-kun's eyes were his loveliest trait, ever tranquil, ever gentle; always basking in a sense of peace. That was, until the Kaneki-kun that hid within came bursting forth with a smile that split his face in two. At that moment, his eyes would widen and be set ablaze; a berserker storm of fire and hate. In a flurry of black and red and loathing, his eyes would become as animated as lightning. Power would practically glow from them like an inner beacon, telling all and one the story of his insanity and innocence. Tsukiyama hated it when Kaneki-kun sported that useless eye patch… it was only ever in the way. Still, he'd met the boy like that and to see it gone would be like missing his own heart. Sometimes, when they were alone, he would convince young Kaneki-kun to take it off. Obligingly, Kaneki-kun would agree and thus, Tsukiyama could bask in the gloriousness of his two eyes all by his lonesome. It was a treat he knew he shared with none other… so perhaps the eye patch wasn't quite so bad.

The next thing Tsukiyama memorized, with a great pang to his riveted _coeur_ , was Kaneki-kun's smile. It had been such a frequent thing, when they had met. A star in the night, so common and bright, but endlessly warm. Hinami _baby_ still managed to wrestle some from him, despite everything that had happened. Tsukiyama would weep in those moments, hiding behind a large hand to avoid letting anyone see his weakness. Kaneki-kun always smiled from the heart. They were ever the same; starting from a soft quirk to his lips, which would blossom with all the beauty of a rose, dew-damp and ethereal. His teeth would peek between the fleshy curtains, a flash of pearly white that blessed any who saw it. It was a wondrous thing, that smile; full of life and the hum of swaying grass in the summer eve. It was his favorite thing about Kaneki-kun, the very best of all that sweet, affectionate and amiable little boy. All those songs and quotes of love and heartbreak made sense in those few, precious seconds that his smile would last.

But alas, Kaneki-kun's smile was as people-shy as a _marmouset_.

Still, Tsukiyama would stare as long as he could, thinking to himself: " _Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde_ …" in a deeply wistful way, nobly pitiful and pious.

Sometimes, when Kaneki-kun would let him sleep in the home he and the others shared, Tsukiyama would sneak into his room to stare at this angel that came from heavens above. The eloquence of Kaneki-kun's soft, boyish curls would capture his gaze; the curve of his smooth face would make his mouth run dry; the way his fingers would splay on the pillow made the desire to touch him a physical ache.

On those rare days when they spent a peaceful time in lazy absolution, Tsukiyama and Kaneki-kun would chat freely of books, of flowers and of everything they could come up with. Even Tsukiyama Shuu knew that these conversations were like food for the soul and he would never object to any kind of nutrition. Even Hinami _bebé_ would participate, happily chiming in when encouraged. At these times, Shuu would yell in helpless joy, " _O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!_ " and be delighted when Kaneki-kun would remark in return, perfectly: " _Twas brillig, and the slithy toves. Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe_."

Kaneki-kun was perfection itself, molded into an all too human self that would one day vanish. All the books Tsukiyama had read eventually lead to loss. He wanted this time between them to become _die unendliche geschichte_ , like the one Ende told. Shuu knew, however, that Kaneki-kun could no more stop himself from going after great things than Tsukiyama could stop himself from wanting to feast on Kaneki-kun's flesh. He was destined for greatness; that boy with the smile that shone like diamonds. For _never was anything achieved without any danger_ , but the very idea of losing him was like never eating again. It left Shuu feeling empty and alone, helpless and afraid.

As he watched Kaneki Ken step toward the edge, toward danger and away from the protective cocoon of his arms, Tsukiyama Shuu cried in breathless agony and despair. Never had he felt more useless, never had he felt more forlorn.

 _¡Espera!_ he had wanted to shout, to scream into the abyss of the sky above.

"Please, Kaneki-kun. Would you **please** not go?" he had begged, had pleaded, and had been anything but dignified. Kaneki-kun had looked back, a soft smile gracing his mouth as he apologized meaninglessly, but wholeheartedly. In his memory, it would be forever burned; in his heart engraved. How sweet that curve, that curl of lips… that glow within his gaze. It had saddened him, it had hurt like the pangs of the worst hunger. He knew, then, what Hell must be like.

Tsukiyama Shuu had only been able to watch in utter ruin as what amounted to his entire life walked away. For without Kaneki Ken, he knew, he would surely die.

" _Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation_."

 **The End.**

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 **Words: 1,260 (I just went with what I felt like, no need to cut and trim this time.)**

" _Raison d'être_ " - it means "reason to be" or "reason of being". Basically, it means "reason of existence".

" _Mon Dieu…" -_ my God in French.

"… _as colorful as a fauvistic painting_ " - Fauvism was an art style in the twentieth century, known for the importance on colors.

" _marmouset…_ " - french name of a small, furry little monkey; known to be very shy around people.

" _Monsieur Banjoi… Monseñor_ _Bunjiji_ …" - Shuu often misspoke Banjou's name, probably for the sake of making fun of him.

" _coeur_ …" - heart in French.

" _Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde_ … _" -_ poem by Pablo Neruda, from _Cien Sonetos de Amor._ It means: "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where..."

".. _bebé…"_ – baby in Spanish.

" _O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!..._ _Twas brillig, and the slithy toves. Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe." -_ Excerpt from the poem "Jabberwocky" in _Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there_ by Lewis Carroll.

"… _die unendliche geschichte_ , like the one Ende told." – Die unendliche geschichte is the fantasy novel, _The Neverending Story,_ by Michael Ende.

"… _never was anything achieved without any danger_ …" - phrase by Niccolò Machiavelli.

" _¡Espera!_ " – wait! in Spanish.

" _Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation_." - phrase by Kahlil Gibran in _The Prophet_.

 **I don't think Tsukiyama Shuu quite knew how much he loved Kaneki Ken until he had to stop him from trying to get himself killed. I don't think it was anything but brotherly-familial love; it was too pure, in my eyes. Still, the way he goes on about it makes me giggle… faggot. I love him, he's the most colorful character I have ever met. Without Shuu-chichi, reading** Tokyo Ghoul **would have been boring.**

 **I also kind of forgot to put in any Italian. Since I am not very familiar with the language, I decided to avoid it subconsciously? My inner Kaneki-kun has betrayed me.**


End file.
